FE hit by lightning

[ind224]

N426FE is on the ground here in Indy. Hit by lightning visible scorching and some rivets missing near the cockpit. I don't know if it was a divert.

 

[K0ATC]

Well, I can tell you its owned by Fed-Ex and its a twin engine airbus. You will be able to look up the details of the FAA investigation eventually.

Scott

 

[ind224]

FE lightning strike

Oddly, that is the second incident w FE I know of that had no local news information.

During our last big storm a FE plane knocked over a de icing truck and the bucket boy took a 30 ft tumble. More than likely these will both listed as incidents.

I tried to find the plane and its route on Flightaware but the tail came up w no information and I did not know the flight number.

 

[K0ATC]

Yeah, I heard about the guy in the deiceing truck, didn't he die from that? I think that is what I had heard. I cant remember the site off hand, but you can review all aircraft related incidents online, the information starts showing up after just a few days. It's not uncommon that the media misses this stuff, it is alway kept as quiet as possible, not illegally of course. I had a guy hit a fence with his gear just prior to the landing threshold, crashed on the runway all because he ran out of gas! The media never got wind of it and they removed the aircraft very quickly with a forklift and put it in a hanger.

Scott

 

[ryangassxx]

lightning hits aircraft all the time.. it's not even a big deal. I've been standing next to planes on the airfield while they were hit by lightning.. It happens in the air ALL THE TIME too because of all of the static that builds up in the plane's skin from all of the air friction.. Sort of like rubbing your feet on a carpet but times a million.. Planes have little antennae that stick out from the trailing edges of the wings to relieve some of the electric buildup but it doesn't totally eliminate it.. Point is,.. lightning hitting airplanes is hardly newsworthy..

 

[Mark]

Good old link here to USA Today article on this subject.
Surprising stats but like Ryangass says above happens all the time.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/2003-05-06-lightning-airplanes_x.htm

Mark
Maryland

btw that Elkton Maryland crash back in 1962 is just up the road from me.
Though I was 3 years old at the time so don't remember but still etched in the minds of older
locals and even my older bro-in law said they travelled down to crash site back then just off rte 40
near Delaware state line before new Interstate I-95 was there.
Rte 40 back then was the main road East-West between Baltimore and Philadelphia/New Jersey and rest of the country

 

[Scott_PHX_APP]

Planes have little antennae that stick out from the trailing edges of the wings to relieve some of the electric buildup but it doesn't totally eliminate it..

Those little antenna are called static bleaders, or at least that's what I've heard them called. They are nylon/fiberglass strands with carbon blended in them to blead off the static you mentioned. I've seen a slight blue corona at night on flights when flying in dry air or near thunder storms in the past. Looks kind of cool...
Later...

 

[zz0468]

They're called p-static wicks. The real purpose is to bleed off static before it builds up in heavy weather so that the radios still work. The 'p' stands for precipitation. Rain drops are frequently static charged, so an airplane flying through rain builds up a charge. When the charge gets high enough, it discharges through protuberances (like antennas) and creates extremely high noise levels in the radios. I've never heard of them being useful in preventing lightning strikes.

Static bleeders on fixed antennas are another matter entirely. The idea there is to continuously discharge any static buildup so that it prevents ground to cloud lightning from occurring off a properly equipped tower.